Back in the mid 60's they used to race full-size monster stock-cars. Our club has a stock car class that is basically the same idea. Full size cars with a minumum weight of 100-grams with a slow motor (BWNC1). The race is both slow, and hilarious at the same time. I found a model of a static GTO that became a great candidate for my next car.

   
   

Too much red for me. Easy switch to Tamiya bright orange.

   
   
   
Test fitting the chassis to the body, and card interior. I also tested a set of 5-spoke inserts made on my friends 3D printer.

   
   
   
   

Decals, driver, full roll cage, and fire extinguisher added. A small piece of brass was also added to bring the car to the minumum weight of just over 100-grams. The brass plate alone weighs 27-grams. The inserts had to be changed to something that was more period correct. I don't think Chip Foose was making mag wheels back then.

The car is complete, and runs very well. Thank you very kindly for looking.

   
   
   
   

Two more  cars   for  sale 
Carrera  Enzo  Ferrari  ex  set  car   very  little   use    £ 20 +post
   
SCX (Matchbox Vintage) GT 40 £25+post
   

I  will  post  to  uk   via  courier @£5  for  up  to  2kg  .Will  mix  and match  with  other  items

I  have  a  Scalextric  digital conversion set .  Contains  2 Porsche Boxter cars, controllers, power base , lane changer  etc. Missing  corner cross over .  Also  various  other  track  section included foc . PM  for  pics  if  interested . Will  post  to  UK   at  cost  .Bargain  £40  ono  +postage .

I  have  a  large  amount  of  Carrera go  track  approx  3 of  the  large Grand  prix  sets .If  any  ones  interested pm  for  pics .I'll  post  to UK  at  cost   or  you  can  collect  from  Settle  nth Yorks .
£  35 +postage

Got  a  few  things  to  sell before  they  go  on ebay 
All un raced  but  may have  been  run  a  few  laps  hence  prices 
   

Scalex  Peugeot  307 £25  + post
   
Scalex Vectra £ 25    + post
   
GP models  1/43 die cast  MGA kit   could  be  used  to   make   mould    or   built  as  static  £20 + post

 Will send  by  courier  at  £5.00  cost  for  up to  2kg package 

More  items to   follow ............

Good evening anyone out there!

Please can anybody offer some tips/advice? 

I am just finishing putting together 12 resin bodied kits, sort of a little production line. 
Mostly Ocar,  some Pendle and a cracking good George Turner Ford Falcon.

So.....everything is done, except fitting the interior trays into place. Theses are trimmed,  painted and detailed. 
Not sure of the best way to actually secure them.


Any help gratefully received. 

Thanks,
Pip

Baby, Don't Fear the Router 

Here are some lessons I learned routing a few mdf tracks. These tips might help you avoid some of the mistakes I made:

1. Use a new router bit. On my second track I used an upward spiral bit because the guy who used it to rout his track before me preferred it over a straight, double-fluted bit, which is what most guys generally use. The upward spiral bit removes material from the slot as you rout. That's all well and good, problem was the bit had already routed through 240 linear feet of mdf prior to my using it. It took some effort to push the router through the mdf and the slots were a bit ragged. It was easily fixed with a little sanding but when I changed the bit for a brand new double-fluted straight bit the router cut clean and without effort. Why make yourself and the router work harder? A new bit will cut through mdf like a hot knife through butter. Whether upward spiral or double-fluted straight, use a new bit. It seems that a router bit is good for about 240 linear feet or one 4-lane, 60' circuit.

2. If using a lexan strip such as the ones Luf sells online- http://www.oldslotracer.com -be sure to use straight nails to hammer it in place. Nails that have even a slight bend in them will tug the lexan strip in one direction or another resulting in slots that are wavy.

3. A plunging router will eliminate slight nicks in your slots at the point where you begin routing. If you do not have a plunging router balance the router on the bit so that it is plumb and level and against your guide fence and give the switch a little blip to drill a hole as straight and plumb as possible at the correct distance from the guide fence.

4. Rout across the seams of adjoining sheets of mdf. This will ensure that your slots line up perfectly at the seams.

5. Always rout with the guide fence to the LEFT of the router as you PUSH the router. (If you are pulling the router towards you then the fence will be to your right, but this is generally not a good idea). The router will wander away from the fence if you push it in the wrong direction.

6. Rout banked turns flat and then bend into shape after routed. Remember the degree of arc will crease as you form the bank so that a 180° turn may end up being 185° or more depending on the angle of the bank. After banking, check the slot width. Slot width may decrease very slightly. Probably not enough to cause problems, but again, this depends upon the degree of banking. Hand sanding the slot with 120 grit sandpaper is usually all it takes to bring the slot width back to where you need it. It's always a good idea to give the slots a light sanding after routing anyway.

7. When using a pin jig to rout equidistant parallel slots make sure that the slot the pins travel through is clear of dust and debris. You don't want the router to unexpectedly stall because the pins hit an obstruction in the already routed slot. The torque of the router will kick the router slightly causing small nicks at each point where the router is stalled.

8. An alternative to using a pin jig is to use a Sintra strip in the already routed slot to act as a guide fence. This will work only if the radius of your router base is equal to the lane width you desire. If I were to rout another track I would use the Sintra strip versus a pin jig. The jig I used was a home-built version made of wood and attached to two steel rods that directly attached to the router with set screws. I realized as I attempted to close the loops on my slots that the wood portion of the jig was slipping ever so slightly along the steel rods resulting in slight lane width variations so that the starting and ending points of my slots did not flush up.

9. To calculate necessary track width multiply the desired lane spacing by 1 less than the number of lanes, add another 1/8" for each slot and another 8" for borders (In turns you'll want a minimum of 5" for an outside border and a minimum of about 3" on the inside - you may be able to get away with less than this depending upon the turn, but this is a good general starting point for a 1/32 scale track). For a 4-lane track with 3.5" lane spacing this will be a 19" track width [(3 X 3.5") + (4 X 1/8") + 3" +5"]. The more room you have for track width the greater the flexibility you will have in your routing. A track width of 16 or 17" in the turns is restrictive for a 4-lane circuit with 3.5" lane spacing.

10. Bondo is great for fixing routing errors. Be sure to apply enough so that it sits above the level of the track since Bondo shrinks as it cures. If you scrape the Bondo so that it is flush with the track surface while it is still wet you will end up with a depression where the slot is and you will have to apply a second coat. So apply a little more than necessary and sand down to track level once dry. You will know you have sanded to the track surface when the line of Bondo looks to be the same width as the slot it is filling. It's a good idea to scrape excess wet Bondo from the track surface away from the slot to minimize sanding later. To avoid a thin, unsupported strip of Bondo at the edge of a slot being repaired you may want to over-rout the area to be filled and then rout one or two fingers perpendicular to the error to serve as anchors. Once filled, sanded and painted the repair will be invisible but it will be much stronger than a thin sliver of Bondo clinging to nothing but the edge of the slot. Another anchoring method is to over-rout the error and then to drill 1/8" holes to just shy of the bottom of the mdf and filling the holes with Bondo.

11. Durham's Rock Hard Putty works great for filling small nail holes and screw holes. It is water soluble, easy to work with, and gives off no harmful fumes. It doesn't work as well as Bondo for fixing routing errors because it's quite brittle and therefore there is some risk that it will chip either when you rout it or later when the track is in use.

12. Luf's tape laying tool is a great time-saver but I found that the tape would sometimes try to cut straight across the inside of corners. To prevent this, I applied a couple of self-stick felt pads to the base of Luf's tool. This burnished the tape as I was laying it and prevented it from wandering inside the corners. Afterwards, I burnished the tape again with the curved edge of a Bic lighter.

13. You reap what you rout.

   

The 2020 1/43 Little Monte Carlo Rally has started!
 
For the last 2 days I have been having fun playing with toy cars on my slot track!
 
Oops, should read: For or the last 2 days I have been working hard at comparing the performances of 16 miniature works of art on a gruelling mountain circuit!
 
Believe which one you like!
 
As always on 1/43 proxies, the standard of build and preparation is high, with every car having something to offer. I will give a full description and comments about each car when I do the final write up after the timed runs are complete.
 
The final timed runs will be tomorrow, as the weather forecast is not good after then.
 
As it stands, 9 cars are in the running for the fastest lap, but that will be whittled down to the final 3 during the day and then I will announce the winner!
 
Who will the winner be? Wait and see!
 
For those who Zoom, we will be talking about the results tomorrow evening, but I will publish the results before then!
 
Regards, Lloyd

Woodland Trace Raceway

Woodland Trace Raceway is a 4-lane mdf circuit with an average lap length of 80 feet. The Trace became operational in January, 2012.

Except for the Corkscrew (which was built using 3/8" mdf to enable sufficient flex), the track is constructed of 1/2" thick mdf. The width between lanes is 3.5". I used Luf's lexan routing strip and tape laying tools in the track's construction.

The surface is 3 coats of semi-gloss latex, a paint/primer blend, lightly sanded after each coat. The track surface is smooth to the touch. This track had excellent grip from the first day. We most often run NSR and Slot.It rubber, but also Ninco rubber or Paul Gage urethane for certain classes of plastic wheeled cars.

Power is provided by a Pyramid PS26K 22 Amp unit. There are two electrical taps into the track and the current is supplied to the cars by 7/32" X 1 mil copper tape. We run at 10v and use DiFalco controllers.

Driver's stations were purchased from Slot Car Corner.

TrackMate takes care of the race management duties.

I built the pit buildings, grandstands, timing tower, bridges, and other trackside accessories from basswood, balsa, and/or photographic mat board. The cliff face is constructed of acoustic ceiling tile. Trees are made of dead azalea branches with Woodland Scenics foliage glued to them.

I downloaded .eps image files from brandsoftheworld.com for the signage and used Adobe Illustrator to re-size and in some cases, alter the files. The graphics on the Dunlop bridge were made from scratch based on aerial photos of the 1:1 bridge at Le Mans. I took some liberties in it's design, so it is not a 100% accurate replica.

Landscaping the track is a never-ending process and I will be posting updated photos as changes are made.

Currently, the fast lap record at the Trace is 5.599 sec, set by my highly modified Sportsman Mustang. Most well-prepared cars will lap in the high fives or low sixes.

I really like this car. Need I say more?

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thank you very kindly for looking.